AMA SUPERBIKE

YOSHIMURA SUZUKIS DOMINATE SUPERBIKE FINALE

The 2016 MotoAmerica AMA Superbike season came to a close at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, USA and Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing ended the year with a bang, victorious in both races.

Roger Hayden raced to a thrilling victory in race one. Then it was Toni Elias and Hayden finishing one-two in the final race of the season giving Yoshimura Suzuki a clean sweep on the season finale.

Hayden grabbed the victory in race one aboard his Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike by just .104 of a second. It marked his second win of the season. Elias was a hard-charging third after qualifying eighth and starting from the third row.

"I've really been working hard on the last 10 laps of the races - where I'm always there, but I can't close them out,” Hayden said after winning race one. “The last lap I didn't know if I was going to make turn one because I had the thing locked up. After I got through there I kind of knew some places where I needed to block, but I didn't want to over block and kill my speed. So I'm just happy for the team, happy for myself. We all work hard."

The second race on Sunday came down to a battle between team-mates as Hayden and Elias were just inches apart on the final lap. This time Elias, again moving up from his third-row start, was able to hold on at the line to take the nail-biting victory.

I felt very comfortable since the beginning," said Elias, who scored six wins in his first season in MotoAmerica. "I could arrive quickly to the top of the race. I would like to fight more for the championship, but 35 points was a lot. I still think (back on) the rain race we had here in April because I lost 47 points in one day and said, maybe this will be the key of the championship. And finally it's like this. Anyway I led a lot. We had great battles. We work with Suzuki with my team hard to improve this bike. Here we make a step. We will try to make more steps for the next season. We will see. Thank you, everybody, my team to give me this opportunity, the MotoAmerica staff and all the people of this paddock because everybody treat me really well. I feel like home."

Elias finished the season ranked third in the final standings, only seven points back to champion Cameron Beaubier. Hayden was ranked fourth.

Yoshimura Suzuki won eight races in all during the 2016 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship, adding to the legacy of the team and the legendary Suzuki GSX-R1000.